"Was it you..."
Dhruv Lakdawalla's voice was calm, but the pressure he exuded was nothing like that of the Giant Shikigami from before.
It was a cold hardness honed by age.
An unhurried pressure that nevertheless filled people with dread.
He lightly tapped his cane against the ground, looking as though he were inspecting a shattered antique. The Giant Shikigami Long Xi had impaled was still twitching, its chest gaping open as cursed residue constantly leaked out.
It was one of Dhruv Lakdawalla's most important fighting assets. Yet despite its injuries, his face barely showed any emotion.
That only made him more frightening.
Kawahara pushed himself upright against the wall. Knowing it was useless, he still raised his weapon, swallowed, and stepped forward.
The remaining Assistant Personnel who could still move followed him, their hands trembling around their short batons.
Long Xi propped up one side of his body.
Calling him a spent force would have been generous.
The Binding Vow had wrung too much out of him. He could barely sense his Cursed Technique anymore, his cursed energy was nearly depleted, and blood leaked from his shoulder, flank, and calf.
One arm was practically severed. His chest had been sliced open, and even his bones had cracked.
Yet he still raised his hand, gathering cursed energy in his palm. That tiny flame was like a candle guttering in the wind, pitifully weak.
It was only orange. He couldn't even produce white flames, much less break through Dhruv Lakdawalla's defenses.
Dhruv Lakdawalla finally spoke.
"Were you the one who destroyed my shikigami?"
His Japanese had a stiff, archaic cadence that sent a chill through Kawahara.
Long Xi grinned, blood running from the corner of his mouth.
"Didn't you see it yourself?"
Dhruv Lakdawalla wasn't angered. He merely took a step forward.
"Few young sorcerers can force me to come out here."
"Then I must be pretty impressive."
Long Xi refused to back down verbally, but he knew perfectly well he couldn't withstand the next attack.
What truly weighed on him wasn't death, either.
It was the people behind him.
They weren't his family or his friends. Before yesterday, he hadn't even known their names.
But they had bandaged him, given him water, and watched over him for a day.
Kawahara and his group had recognized at a glance that he wasn't an ordinary person, yet they hadn't abandoned him.
If bringing Dhruv Lakdawalla here got them all killed, Long Xi couldn't bear to let them die that way.
He wasn't a saint. He didn't even think he was a good person. He simply didn't want anyone else to suffer because of him.
He was already considering one final move.
Make another Binding Vow, wring this life dry all at once, and hit him with everything he had.
If he only sacrificed half his lifespan, he still had the system. Surely there would be lifespan rewards later on.
As long as he could take Dhruv Lakdawalla down with him, or at least drag him to his death here, it would be worth it.
But the moment that thought arose, Dhruv Lakdawalla was already upon him.
Too fast.
Long Xi barely caught a streak of afterimage before a sudden chill pierced his chest.
It wasn't a blade, but the tip of the cane.
Holding the cane in one hand, Dhruv Lakdawalla drove it straight through Long Xi and pinned him viciously into the ground as though hammering in a nail.
Spiderweb cracks burst across the concrete slab. Blood spread along the cane, searingly hot. Long Xi's breathing stopped for an instant, and blood choked out of his mouth, filling his throat with a metallic sweetness.
His heart had been pierced.
His fingers twitched twice. The flame suddenly flared, then quickly died, and blood spilled uncontrollably from his throat.
"I truly don't understand why Kenjaku specifically marked you," Dhruv Lakdawalla said, looking down, his tone utterly calm.
Yet hearing that name brought a little focus back into Long Xi's eyes.
"Kenjaku?..."
"You don't know? I suppose that makes sense... The other two aren't interested in you, after all. But I am very interested."
"Your cursed energy is still recovering. Even after I've pierced your heart?"
"No wonder you can affect his barrier, even allowing people who shouldn't have entered to come inside."
"I'll leave your corpse to those cursed spirits."
Long Xi opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
He only felt his body growing heavy, as though something enormous were pressing down on him.
Dying probably felt something like this, as though his entire being were disappearing.
His arms wouldn't move, and he couldn't use his cursed energy anymore.
He couldn't even see the barrage of comments that had always surrounded him.
Only his hearing remained, the last sense to fade after death...
What did people think about when they were dying?
Long Xi didn't know. Perhaps it was because he knew he wouldn't die for good.
Or perhaps it was because he had nothing to look back on fondly.
Kawahara lunged forward first. The Cursed Tool in his hand smashed against the side of Dhruv Lakdawalla's face without even making him sway.
Another young member of the Assistant Personnel charged forward with a roar, thrusting a short blade toward Dhruv Lakdawalla's ribs. But the moment the young man's wrist brushed his clothing, the other end of the cane struck it and snapped it outright.
The crack of breaking bone was sharp and loud.
"Mr. Long Xi! Don't die!!!"
Kawahara shouted until his voice broke. Cursed energy appeared around his hands as he tried to drive the Cursed Tool farther in.
But it was utterly useless!
Dhruv Lakdawalla tilted his head.
He probably hadn't imagined that people who couldn't even use Cursed Techniques would charge in to protect a "corpse."
And in the next instant, his killing intent deepened.
Long Xi's consciousness began to darken. Pinned in place, he could barely raise his eyes, yet those sounds still flooded in.
With a thud, he felt himself fall to the ground again. It seemed someone had pulled the thing out of his chest.
But his eyes still couldn't make out what lay ahead. His body was merely recovering under the influence of the cursed energy supplied by the comments.
Heavy bodies hit the ground. Bones broke.
The wet, sticky sound of flesh being sliced apart.
Long Xi had never hated his naturally sharper hearing so much.
Kawahara's shouting lasted only two seconds before turning into a muffled groan.
Someone clung desperately to Dhruv Lakdawalla's leg, shouting "****," only to be sliced in half by cursed energy a moment later.
He couldn't even hear the sounds anymore. All he could sense was Dhruv Lakdawalla's cursed energy devouring and slicing apart one presence after another, each weaker than his own.
Long Xi wanted to move.
He wanted to tear that old bastard apart, snap his cane, and shove it back down his throat.
But his heart had been pierced, his blood was pouring out, and his consciousness was on the verge of vanishing completely. Forget getting up-he couldn't even curl his fingers.
He had never felt so helplessly furious.
The livestream chat fell silent for several seconds, then exploded with comments.
[Get up!!!]
[Don't die!!!]
[Bro Long, don't crash and burn!]
[Please, get up!!]
Within his hazy consciousness, even with his eyes closed, those comments somehow appeared before him again.
Long Xi coughed up a large mouthful of blood, yet the corner of his mouth twitched.
"So damn noisy..."
He thought he must have truly lost his mind.
This was clearly just a dungeon run, a simulation.
Knowing the system, he could probably try again after dying. At the very least, his real body wouldn't actually be gone.
But when those ordinary people protecting him were cut to pieces, when Kawahara and the others who didn't even qualify as proper sorcerers desperately stood in front of him, his fury surged straight to the crown of his head.
What did this old bastard take human lives for?
Weeds? Points? Trash he could toss away on a whim?
Long Xi's eyes burned, and hatred made his chest tremble.
He couldn't accept it.
Whether this was his first time or just a dungeon run, this wasn't the ending he wanted to see.
He didn't want... to let it end like this...
Before you continue